As the autumn winds begin to swirl, the Florida A&M University club soccer team will travel on the road to take on the Georgia Southern Eagles this Saturday.
Carrying a 0-2 record, the Rattlers started this season dropping both their first two games at home.
Head coach Yves Anglade said that the first goal of the team is to defend the home turf for the rest of the season.
“We want to get in the near future not to lose any home games,” Anglade said. “We are going to get the Rattlers rattled and get them in winning mode.”
The schedule for team this past week was a little different. The team was awarded Monday off after a tough loss against Valdosta State.
While the pressure defense of the Rattlers kept the game tied through most of the game, many players became fatigued and couldn’t keep up the pressure. That led to the three late goals allowed and was the difference in the ball game.
Head coaches Leon Prosper and Yves Anglade know that, despite being three weeks in, the players aren’t in shape yet.
“The first and foremost issue we have is fitness and we are working on that,” Anglade said.
With the season still in the beginning stages, the team is focusing on everyone getting on the same page. With new players on the team, issues like positioning, pressure defense and chemistry have to be addressed.
After the loss against the Valdosta State, defender Wilken Morestant, a fifth-year construction engineer student, said that the team is still trying put things together.
“We hadn’t practiced the offside line so much and some guys didn’t know where to stand,” Morestant said. “We are on the same page, but I think if we practice it a little bit better, we will get better in time.”
Goalkeeper Oscar Herrera, a first-year electrical engineering student from Immokalee, FL, agrees that he also needs to continue working on his game.
“Mostly, I’m just trying to get a good relationship with my defense,” Herrara said. “I tell my defense what to do and where to be. That’s my main goal right now.”
The game is slated for a 1 o clock start on Saturday.